1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for driving an ion conducting actuator, and an ion conducting actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in fields such as medical equipments, industrial robots, and micro machines, research and development of actuators in which various principles of operation are applied have been carried out. Among these, an ion conducting actuator in which, an electrode is formed on a surface of an ion-exchange resin in a form in which polar molecules such as an ion fluid are included, and is deformed by bending by applying a voltage has been called as an artificial muscle for its flexible driving mode. The artificial muscle is expected to have applications in various fields from now onward. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2004-282992, examples of structures of various ion conducting actuators have been disclosed.
However, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2004-282992, only a relationship of a deformation shape with respect to a drive voltage applied has been described. Therefore, in this patent literature, there has been no disclosure at all regarding a time for which the drive voltage is applied and the deformation shape.
For an actuator, not only the drive mode but also factors related to time such as a deformation speed and a response speed, become important factors. Therefore, when the actuator is driven substantially by a method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2004-282992, an operation speed being slow, applications are restricted.